Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is the vice-president of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party, hopes that Malaysians will support the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to form a government. But BN faces a tough battle – against the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, led by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, and Pakatan Harapan (Pakatan) under veteran opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Pakatan won the last election in May 2018, a historic feat that saw UMNO lose power for the first time in 60 years as voters punished the party over the multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB. This time, the economy and the rising cost of living are among voters’ main concerns, but Malaysians are also frustrated by the maneuvering between politicians, which has continued even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysts say Malaysian votes, as well as the millions of new voters joining the rolls as a result of automatic voter registration and the lowering of the voting age to 18, have added to the uncertainty. “What we have seen is a fragmentation of Malaysian politics from the certainties of the past,” said Keith Leong, a political analyst at KRA Group, a consultancy in Kuala Lumpur. “It used to be BN against everyone else. Now you have these three grand coalitions and they’ve all had the experience of gaining, regaining and losing power over the last four years.” Here’s everything you need to know about the Malaysian elections.
The basics
Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy with voters choosing representatives for the 222 seats in the lower house of parliament, known as the Dewan Rakyat. In each constituency, the candidate with the most votes is the winner, and the party or coalition that receives a simple majority of 112 seats forms the government. The leader of that party or bloc generally becomes prime minister. Between independence in 1957 and May 2018, he was always the president of UMNO. Polling stations are usually set up in schools and are open from 8am. (00:00 GMT) to 6 p.m. (10:00 GMT). Those in the states of Borneo Sabah and Sarawak open and close half an hour earlier. Most Malaysians value their vote and there can be long queues. Turnout in the 2018 election was 82 percent and five years before that, 84 percent. There are some concerns that the turnout this time around could be affected by the weather if there is heavy rain on Saturday. About 21.17 million Malaysians are eligible to vote and this will be the first general election since the voting age was lowered to 18. Automatic registration has also boosted the electoral roll. The Electoral Commission said there are about six million new voters, of which about 1.4 million are first-time voters between the ages of 18 and 20. In the last election in 2018, there were 14.9 million voters. Malaysians will vote on Saturday in an election that is very likely to result in a hung parliament with no coalition winning a significant majority [File: Ahmad Yusni/EPA] Voters usually put their fingers in when they pick up their ballot or papers if there is also a state election – a measure introduced in the 2013 polls amid concern that people could vote more than once. Usually, Malaysian states hold their elections at the same time as the national polls, but this time only three of the country’s 13 states – Pahang, Perlis and Perak – dissolved their assemblies. Results are expected around midnight (16:00 GMT)
Multiple parties in a multi-ethnic nation
Malaysia is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country with a majority Malay population and large communities of people of Chinese and Indian descent. Bumiputera, a designation that includes Malays, who are Muslim, as well as the country’s indigenous people, make up about 60 percent of the population, and Islam is the country’s official religion. Other communities are Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Sikhs and animists. Christianity is also becoming more popular among the indigenous people as well as the Chinese. The country’s political parties and coalitions reflect this diversity. UMNO has dominated Malaysian politics since independence and was in power without interruption until it was overthrown in 2018. He has long been seen as a champion of Malays and Islam, but faces growing competition from Bersatu, a Malaysian-based party in the PN coalition, and PAS, the Islamist party that is also in the PN and has a strong base in the heavy east coast of Malaysia. Bersatu was formed before the last election by politicians, including former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who were disgusted by 1MDB and united under Pakatan to fight corruption and abuse of power in 2018. Two years later, relations collapsed with some who left Pakatan and Mahathir eventually founded his own Malaysian nationalist party, Pejuang, which is the dominant party in the smaller Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) coalition. Pakatan is more diverse than the other coalitions and is considered more “progressive” on social and political issues. On the economy, almost all parties in Malaysia tend to champion free trade and privatisation, albeit with subsidies and price protections for basic food and fuel and special assistance for Malaysians. Pakatan is made up of Keadilan, a multiracial party founded by Anwar’s wife to fight for his reform and release after he was tried on corruption and sodomy charges nearly 25 years ago, the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a multiracial but mainly Chinese party. and Amanah, an Islamist party founded by reformist former PAS members. The 2022 election marks the first exit for Perikatan Nasional, a coalition made up of politicians who defected from Pakatan Harapan as well as the Islamist party PAS [Hasnoor Hussain/Reuters] There is also the multiracial MUDA, which means “youth” in Malay, and was founded by Syed Saddiq, who became Malaysia’s youngest minister after the 2018 election when he was appointed Youth and Sports Minister in the Pakatan government at the age of 25. His party is extremely active on TikTok and has six candidates in a loose arrangement with Pakatan. There are also several parties in the Borneo state of Sabah, while neighboring Sarawak is dominated by the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS). The latter tends to align itself with whichever party or coalition forms the federal government.
The race for the prime ministership
At least three men have been officially named as candidates to become Malaysia’s next prime minister: Ismail Sabri, Anwar and Muhyiddin. Ismail Sabri is one of UMNO’s three vice-presidents and has been embroiled in a power struggle with party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for more than 14 months he has been in power. Zahid, who is currently on trial on multiple charges of corruption at a charity, is widely believed to have pushed 62-year-old Ismail Sabri to call the election early, and when it came to naming candidates, it was Zahid who made the announcement, while some of them who were considered supporters of Ismail Shabri withdrew. Many voters are worried that if BN wins and UMNO performs strongly, it could be 69-year-old Zahid rather than Ismail Sabri who becomes prime minister. The uncertainty – real or imagined – has given UMNO’s opponents plenty of campaign fodder. “Her leadership is heavy,” political analyst Bridget Welsh told Al Jazeera. “Most Malaysians do not want to see someone with so many corruption charges as prime minister and do not like his leadership style. Zahid is a liability.” Anwar, who is now 75, started out in politics as a student leader but was eventually persuaded to join UMNO where he quickly rose through the ranks to become finance minister, deputy prime minister and heir apparent to Mahathir, who was then in the middle of 23 years at the helm of Malaysia. Anwar’s career, at least in UMNO, came to an end in 1998 when, at the height of the Asian Financial Crisis, Mahathir fired him, accusing his protégé of corruption and sodomy – a crime in Malaysia. After mass street protests and a grim trial, when Anwar appeared in court with a black eye after being beaten in custody by Malaysia’s then police chief, he was jailed. His wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail launched Keadilan, which means “justice” in Malay. Anwar Ibrahim hopes the 2022 elections will finally take him to the prime minister’s office [Hasnoor Hussain/Reuters] Anwar was released in 2004 but four years later was again accused of sodomy. In 2015, after a protracted legal process that went all the way to Malaysia’s highest court, the guilty verdict was upheld and a five-year prison sentence began. But as more details of the 1MDB scandal emerged, the political mood began to shift and former enemies became allies. Anwar and Mahathir agreed to join forces and, with Anwar still in jail, Pakatan ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is now serving a 12-year jail sentence after being found guilty of corruption in the first of five trials related to the 1MDB. The two had reportedly reached an agreement for Mahathir to hand over power to Anwar after two years, but the deal collapsed amid persistent rumors that Mahathir had changed his mind and maneuvering by UMNO members unhappy at losing power. In February 2020, the Pakatan government collapsed – to the fury of many who had voted for it. After a week of uncertainty, Muhyiddin emerged as the new prime minister. Also a prominent figure in UMNO who resigned at the height of the 1MDB scandal, Muhyiddin was a key player in the controversy that led to Pakatan’s demise. The 75-year-old, who was hospitalized for pancreatic cancer in 2018, saw Malaysia…
